An exploration of pizza in and around Rochester, NY, one pizzeria at a time

Monday, November 9, 2009

Amy Rose, Scottsville

Today we head south to Main Street, Scottsville. Not too long ago, the chief dining attraction here would’ve been the Oatka Steak & Seafood restaurant. Named for the nearby creek, it started out as a tavern and inn in the early 19th century. Sadly, the Oatka went out of business a couple of years ago or so. It would be nice to see it reopen.Until then, you can still grab a slice of pizza, as I recently did, at Amy Rose Pizza, just a few doors away.These being normal size, not “mega” slices, I got two, one cheese, one pepperoni. They were fairly heavy slices, with a medium thick crust and a soft-textured, light brown underside. The crust was quite dense, and didn’t seem to have risen much, as there were no real air pockets visible.The cheese on the cheese slice was very well browned, and had congealed into a single, unitary layer. The sauce seemed to be pretty much MIA here, although I thought I detected a slightly sweet flavor in there somewhere. Maybe it was my imagination, but either the sauce or just the slice as a whole seemed to have picked up some of the flavor of that day’s “gourmet” pizza, which was a pulled-pork pizza. They had been sitting on racks in the same enclosed pizza warmer, so it’s not inconceivable, I guess.The pepperoni slice was quite generously topped with thin, mildly flavored slices of pepperoni. The outer lip of both slices was a bit tough and chewy.Amy Rose has a long list of pizza toppings, as well as 14 varieties of the aforementioned gourmet pizza. That includes a stuffed pizza and a deep dish pizza, but you can also order a regular pizza with thin or thick crust, and one of four sauces - red, white garlic, pink or pesto. In short, there’s a pizza for everybody here.Amy Rose also offers wings (described as “jumbo”), calzones, fish fry every day, hot and cold subs, burgers, dogs, soup, salad, sides and desserts as well. If that’s not enough, they serve Hershey’s ice cream (not sure if that’s a seasonal thing or not), cappuccino and chai tea. There’s some seating available, and Amy Rose also delivers all day.It’s a good menu, certainly, and Amy Rose deserves commendation for a commitment to making its sauce, dough and rolls fresh and on-site. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try a specialty pizza or to take out a pie. But on this occasion, the slices I got didn’t impress me too much. The flavor wasn’t bad, but I have to deduct some points for the dense crust and the overly browned cheese. I also found them a bit out of balance, with the sauce barely noticeable between the chewy cheese and the crust. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll give Amy Rose another try, but for now I’ll give it a C-.Amy Rose Pizza, 11 Main St., Scottsville 889-7590Mon. - Thu. 9 a.m. - 10 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.

5 comments:

Hey Pizza Guy, Good write up, BUT...You mentioned that you "wouldn’t mind coming back to try a specialty pizza or to take out a pie. But on this occasion, the slices I got didn’t impress me too much." And that the "Next time I’m in the area, I’ll give Amy Rose another try..." Well, I would highly suggest you do. Judging a pizza parlor on it's slices is no way to evaluate a restaurant. Last Saturday my wife and I unexpectedly found ourselves with sixteen house guests, 4 friends from Virginia and my brothers family, including his inlaws, right at dinner time. We decided that the best thing to do on such short notice was to order pizza and subs. My daughter took everyones orders and phoned it into Amy Rose. Of course everyone wanted something different so it was a huge order. We got two sheet pizzas and 9 different subs. I didn't think there was any way they would get this order all right but I figured at least there was enough food in it that everyone would get something to eat. Well, they proved me wrong, the order was filled perfectly with each sub labeled with the exact items as per each order and the pizzas where made to perfection, just as she ordered them. Ok, so they got the orders right but how was the food? Everyone raved about the quality of their orders. Especially our friends from Virginia. One of the sheet pizzas was a simple cheese and pepperoni pizza. The crust was light and bubbly and the sauce was sweet and tasty. The cheese was thick and stretchy and the pepperoni was cooked perfectly. The second sheet was loaded. Cheese, pepperoni, sausage, ham, sweet peppers and onions. When I said loaded, I mean LOADED. This thing was heavyyy, and again, even with all those toppings, it was cooked perfecly. The subs followed suit... stuffed generously with meats, cheeses and veggies. The best part of this dinner, besides good friends and family of course, was that because they were so huge, there were plenty of leftovers... :-) I'll defiantly be going back to Amy Roses Pizza. Out of this world!! A+++

Well, obviously if you get a mammoth order, they are foaming at the mouth for how you are covering their overhead, thus perfectly made food is expected. However, if you are someone like me who isn't a left-over (especially pizza) kinda person, then you expect a killer slice, like Salvatore's (on Monroe Ave. in Clover Lanes) delivers. The reviews I've read of Amy Rose are average at best, but most of them involved small, one or two person orders.

Your experience is valid but deviates too far from the average size order to account to be substantially relevant to what one or two people can expect from them (slices included niggaaaaa! lol).

Thanks for your thoughtful and extensive comments. I always welcome additional input on the places I've reviewed. And I'm well aware of the limitations of going in and getting a slice, which is why I added that line about trying Amy Rose again sometime.That's also why this isn't a full-blown pizzeria review website so much as a true blog - just a record of my experiences trying a particular pizzeria on a given day, which may or may not be representative of that pizzeria overall.If I were doing a "serious" review, of course, I'd try a place several times, get a full pie or two, in different styles, etc., before doing a review. And if I did that, there wouldn't be enough time in my lifetime to cover all the places around here. But I do want to try them all, so this is how I do it.So the blog is what it is, and I hope that readers are aware of those limitations, and that they take them into consideration when reading my posts. Input from readers like yourself helps give a fuller picture of a pizzeria, so again, thank you for your comment.

Bloggers are not professional food critics--it is much more personal and as bloggers, we have the freedom to make the blog what it is--essentially our personal journey/thoughts on particular experiences.

You have been very upfront all along that these are your opinions and that you are rating your experience on one slice--you also explained that because you only had the slice that you would be willing to try something else another time.

Also, it is important to remember that taste is very subjective. I held a Rochester-area cupcake review challenge on my blog and didn't care for some cupcakes and loved others. People were very passionate about their opinions in their comments, but I wasn't afraid to share my opinion on *my own personal blog*. If the frosting tasted like plastic, I wasn't going to sugar coat it and make everything rosy. I was sharing my PERSONAL experience about the flavors--again, very subjective.

I love, love your blog. Most times I agreee, sometimes I do not (I do not like Nino's, for example). It is also important to remember that one week you might go in to a place and order a great pizza and get an "OK" one at the same venue the next week (this happens to me at Bay Goodman and Cam's, for example).

Ratings Guide

A: great; one of the best this area has to offerB: pretty good; not top-notch, but definitely good, and better than averageC: OK; nothing special, but it’ll do; typical for our areaD: edible; if you’ve already paid for it, you might as well eat itF: downright bad; toss it and get something else